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Koster captures 3 golds; Nordic excels

As he rockets toward the end of a blockbuster high school sports career, Slade Nordic is not fading away quietly in the dark of past accomplishments.

The college football-bound Bartlesville senior extended his track successes to the boys 400m dash, during this weekend’s Muskogee meet — and he nearly ran all the competition of their feet.

Known principally for his blazing speed in the 100m and 200m dash, Nordic bolted to second place in the 400 with a meteoric clocking of :50.4.

“This is not an event he is likely to run at regionals, but he could easily qualify for state in it,” said Bartlesville head coach Bon Bennett. “I know of very few people who actually like running the 400. It can be extremely painful. Slade is not afraid of a little pain.”

In fact, after expending his energy in the 400, Nordic still found enough juice to registered third place in the 200m dash.

“These events were back-to-back,” Bennett noted.

Blair Koster — a multi-event state meet qualifier last year — competed for the first time this season in the girls 100m hurdles.

To no one’s surprise — at least to those who know her talent — Koster surged to first place.

“She ran against a huge field with all the big schools in the area, including Jenks, Owasso, Union and Broken Arrow,” Bennett said.

Koster also seized first place in the 300m hurdles and the 200m dash. For good measure, she captured third in the 100m dash.

“A performance for the ages,” Bennett said, with thunderous exclamation. “The challenge (for the coaches) is holding her back and keeping her from killing herself. I think she would ever every race if there wasn’t a limit.”

Bennett’s 4x800m girls relay team — which features veteran leadership and freshman fearlessness — subtracted time from its previous best time and netted second place. The foursome included Ashley Barnes, Shay Stayton, Kassey Taylor and Alyse Littlesun.

The freshman Stayton also stampeded to a personal best (2:24) in the girls 700.

On the boys side, freshman Henry Williams pounded out second place in the 3200m run, with a career best of 10:14.

“Henry has been running races perfectly and has shown the ability to get on his toes and have a fantastic final lap to put people away,” said Bennett.

Bennett also praised the tutelage of distance running coach David Ayres for preparing the pacers.

“He has elevated the whole program,” Bennett said.

Strength coach Ty Nordic also earned kudos from the coach for being “an inspiration to all the kids.”

Bartlesville went to battle in Muskogee without some of its contributing performers, Bennett added.

These athletes had to fulfill either college visits or personal commitments.

State-qualifying hurdler Elle Denver and Matt Hixon were among the missing.

“We had several athletes who have been injured and unable to compete, so this meet we tried to run some ‘off’ events,’” Bennett added.

Next up, Bartlesville travels Thursday to Owasso to compete in the Frontier Conference meet.

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